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>> Solving problems is the only way to understand physics. There's no way around it. The reason is that you think you understand what you read, but as Richard
by beltsazar 3y ago
>> Solving problems is the only way to understand physics. There's no way around it.
The reason is that you think you understand what you read, but as Richard Feynman said:
> The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
You think you understand 90% of what you read, but in reality it's probably only 20-30%. By doing the exercises, at the very least you'll know that you don't know that much. And if you then reread the materials a few pages before, you'll realize that you have skimmed (or worse, skipped) some parts because you mistakenly thought you already understood it.
Another tips from my personal experience: When you're reading a textbook, keep asking in your mind questions with the types of "what if" and "how about," which are sometimes not yet explained in the section you're reading. Also, keep associating what you've recently learned with what you've already known (days ago, years ago).
Be curious and validate that you really understand what you think you understand.
- bmitc 3y agoAlthough, I think what you're describing doesn't completely lie on the reader. Oftentimes, the author has plain just not explained things clearly or even remotely well, and the reader has to play a little bit of 20 questions to get to the meat of something. When a book is properly written, then the shared load between the reader and the writer is much more balanced.